Heading into this weekend with a six match-winning streak and the top position in the EIVA on the line, the No. 5 Penn State men's volleyball team had a lot riding on its shoulders -- but the Nittany Lions didn't seem worried.

It was Princeton, however, which had to worry when the Lions got off the bus on Friday night. It took Penn State a little bit over an hour to put away the Tigers 3-0 (30-17, 30-23, 30-22).

"The challenge this time was to get off the bus and play well," Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik said. "I think we were up 7-2 in Game 1. It was the way I hoped we would handle a situation like this by walking into the gym with a purpose of getting something done."

Penn State (8-2, 4-0 EIVA) wasted no time when it walked into the gym. In Game 1, it hit with a .714 clip and made no hitting errors. Game 2 was a little bit different, with Princeton (4-5, 2-2 EIVA) trying to give the Lions some competition. Despite the Tigers' advances and a hitting percentage of .176, Penn State pulled out a win and went on to take the next game as well.

Senior Alex Gutor continued his streak of good play, leading the team with 10 kills and only three errors to hit with a .438 clip. He tops the charts for the Lions with 155 kills this season.

It was a standout night for the two middle blockers. Sophomore Max Holt had six kills and was tied for the team-high with four aces. Freshman Max Lipsitz, dubbed "J.R." or "Junior" by his team, had nine kills and made no errors in 13 tries to hit with a .692 clip.

"We wanted to go in and run our middles at them, get Max [Holt] some swings, get Junior some swings," Pavlik said. "[Lipsitz] played well. He just keeps getting better."

With the team playing so well at the moment, Pavlik decided to try to get as many members of the bench in as possible. Starting setter Luke Murray took a back seat in Game 3 as sophomore Travis Foltz set for the Lions. He recorded 11 sets and two digs in his first full game of the season.

"He did well," Pavlik said. "It took a third to a half a game for him and the team to get into the game mode, but I really liked the decisions he made. The thought process was really nice."

The Lions will stay on the road for another EIVA match today. They will head to East Stroudsburg at 7:30 tonight in Koehler Fieldhouse. The Warriors (5-4, 1-1 EIVA) made it into the EIVA Tait Division this year after being atop the Hay Division last year. Penn State holds an all-time record
of 46-5 and with the confidence as high as it is, the Lions believe they will add yet another mark in the win column.

"I asked the guys before the match to show what I've seen in practice," Pavlik said.

"I think what we've got is a group of guys who know what's in front of them and they know to take one match at a time."